East Timor's Emerging National Security Agenda: Establishing “Real” Independence

Abstract

This article focuses on the steps East Timor has taken to bolster its defense sector following its attainment of independence in 2002. In International Relations, scholars have often argued that the ability to defend territory and population from external threat is an essential component of sovereign statehood. Literature on post-colonial sovereignty, however, suggests that the external sovereignty of “weak” post-colonial states is more likely to be protected through international legal recognition. In recent years, East Timor has sought to develop their defense capacities in line with conventional thinking about security and “real” independence. This influences the foreign relations of East Timor and also has broader implications for understanding security and independence in post-colonial states.     

Women,microfinance, and savings: Lessons and proposals

Microfinance--both credit and savings--has potential to improve the well-being of poor women in developing countries. This paper explores practical ways to achieve that potential. Based on lessons from informal savings mechanisms that women already use, the paper proposes two savings services designed to address the development issues that confront women. The proposals call for safe-deposit boxes and for matched-savings accounts for healthcare or education.     

The Imagined Globe: Remapping the World Through Public Diplomacy at the Asia Society

Debates about public diplomacy have recently turned to the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in what had been primarily a conversation about state-to-state affairs. We contribute to this conversation through an in-depth analysis of the Asia Society. Founded by John D. Rockefeller III in 1956, the Asia Society was established to educate Americans about Asia at a time when there was much less contact between the USA and Asia. Since then, the institution has undergone several reinventions, each contributing to and reflecting changing understandings of Asia and its relationship to the USA. We track the kinds of artwork the Asia Society collects and puts on display, the range of countries it categorizes as Asian, and the goals and content of its programming to reveal these shifts in scale and focus and demonstrate how they mirror and drive forward shifts in US-Asian relations. We argue that understanding how cultural institutions contribute to changing geographic imaginaries and geopolitics is an important, often overlooked aspect of public diplomacy. They are both a catalyst and reflection of changing political economic dynamics that, in turn, shape how citizens imagine their world and their nation’s place within it.

     

Modification of hematoma findings in the breast region

Subcutaneous bruises caused by blunt injury are common findings in medicolegal case work. If the hematoma involves the anterior thoracic wall, bruises are mostly absent in the region of the nipples and the surrounding areola. A similar phenomenon has already been described for hypostatic skin hemorrhages. A possible explanation for both phenomena is the special tissue texture in the nipple–areola complex. Based on four cases from the forensic autopsy material and two cases from clinical forensic examinations, the macromorphological findings and the histological correlates are presented.     

Reconceptualising the migration – development nexus: diasporas,globalisation and the politics of exclusion

The presence of a sizeable expatriate African population constitutes a potentially exploitable, if undeveloped, resource that represents a significant developmental challenge for the continent. Problematically the global division of labour and power, as well as differences of region, class, generation, ethnicity and race, are not properly recognised within the existing scholarship or development policy. What is clear is that diasporas do have a substantial role to play in development on the African continent. Further theoretical and empirical investigation is necessary to investigate the practical significance, nature and content of diasporic identifications and activities. By setting these against the structural backdrop of the global economy and the closely associated ideology of globalisation, this paper seeks to provide a new basis for understanding the role of the diaspora in development. This has considerable policy implications as to which diasporic populations should be targeted for developmental purposes.